Brandeis University

Date: Apr 18 2016
Major: Physics (This Major's Salary over time)
Brandeis is a fine school academically. This is underappreciated by a lot of people on the outside. Students go to the top graduate schools in all fields, and in general are pretty smart to brilliant. There are some boneheads there, however. They really stand out in class. Don't know why they get in, but I would guess money. I conducted an alumni interview with one of the dumbest people I had ever met, and I wrote in all the details of the horrific interview and she got in. I later learned her family had a lot of money. That same year I interviewed a young lady who was very, very bright, interesting, engaging, etc. They rejected her! It was Brandeis' HUGE loss because she ended up at Stanford! Good for her. I would hate for her to be in class with the idiot that got in.

Having said this, if one is not Jewish, it will not be a friendly environment. Essentially, there is the Jewish community and everyone else. It runs about 65/35 Jewish/gentile. This can make life very difficult in the classroom. For instance, I took complex variables with a small group. About ten or so. Well, 7 or 8 students were Jewish, and they gathered before and after class to discuss homework, test preparation, etc. I felt invisible. I don't think the students recognized me around campus. I would greet them and they would either not respond or look at me as if I were crazy. I honestly believe that some of them simply did not realize I was in class with them. I had to work the problem sets alone. So I was at a serious disadvantage.

The liberalism that is claimed is not extant. Those who thought of themselves as open minded, etc. I found to be condescending, xenophobic and racist. They just smiled alot and said "What up, bro!". But don't try to socialize with them. The pain will come quickly and in big doses. I will never forget a dining hall conversation. This Jewish guy who thought of himself as a really lefty from San Francisco asked this black kid with a rather large Afro hair style where he bought his hair. After a lot of wrangling, the Jewish guy finally asserted that he asked because black people cannot grow hair longer than an inch. I was flabbergasted. But this is what you get from the lefties at Brandeis, so imagine what the conservative Jews are like.

If you are Jewish, it is a great place to study. The academics are superb, and the professors will send you to the best graduate schools in the world. If you are not Jewish, be prepared for a long, enervating, disorienting experience that tests your ability to spend an entire day in class and not have a single student say anything to you. Be prepared for invisibility. If you can handle that, you will survive, and maybe even get good grades if you don't take classes with professors who do not believe that you do good work, or that it isn't yours if it is good.